Authoring systems are known to include a collection of tools that allows an author to configure objects in a simulated universe such as a three-dimensional (3D) scene or a video game. The author can for instance configure the object, e.g. specify usual and unusual behaviours of the objects. The end result provided by the authoring system is a content that is playable by an end-user, e.g. a customer or a spectator. Typically, this playable content has to be loaded into a dedicated interpreter.
In general, a 3D scene comprises one or more 3D objects located in a background in order to create an image or an animated 3D movie. These 3D objects and the background form the graphic elements of the 3D scene.
The 3D scene further embodies characteristics that affect its appearance. A first category of characteristics is made by types and locations of light sources that may be used as desired to create different effects in the scene such as specular reflections on the objects, shadows, and so on. Another category of characteristics comprises the viewpoint of the 3D scene—which represents the relative point of view of the viewer and which may be seen as what would be seen through a camera—that may be changed (one could also say that the viewpoint is moved) in the 3D space so that a change of the viewpoint modifies how the scene appears to the viewer.
The objects in a 3D scene may have characteristics such as colour, texture and/or material composition which affect how the objects and the 3D scene appear to the viewer. The representation of the 3D scene is the result of a rendering (also referred as 3D rendering) which is usually defined as a process of generating an image from data that describes the image or the animated 3D movie, thus forming a model.
Conventional systems used to create a 3D scene are specifically designed for that purpose and they relies on a mixed two-dimensional (2D)/three-dimensional user interface. The author is immersed in 2D user interface while constructing the scene, and then the author switches to the 3D scene in order to experience the 3D scene, that is, in order to play the 3D scene. The 2D user interface is a classical interface; for instance, a graphical user interface (or GUI) having standard menu bars as well as bottom and side toolbars that contain a set of user-selectable icons, each icon being associated with one or more operations or functions.
Thus, the author often needs to switch from the 2D user interface to the 3D user interface when creating the 3D scene in order to be able to check that the result displayed in the 3D scene is the expected one. This is a cumbersome tack for the user because it is time consuming and not ergonomical.
Furthermore, in order to effectively generate 3D scenes, the author needs to acquire a considerable amount of knowledge, training and expertise in order to limit back and forth between the 2D and 3D user interface. As a result, the creation of a 3D scene using conventional systems is a slow and difficult process.
Furthermore, the workspace of the 2D user interface has a limited size. As a result, the number of standard menu bars as well as bottom and side toolbars functions is limited. Therefore, the author is compelled to navigate between complex menus and sub-menus which are difficult to comprehend; thus requiring again considerable amount of knowledge, training and expertise for designing a playable scene.
Thus, according to the limitations of the existing solution shortly discussed above, there is a need for a process for creating a playable scene in an authoring system that improves the ergonomy and reduces the production time of the playable scene.